If the Rays do not win the next two games and force a game five in the ALDS back in Boston, there are many that think David Price will never start another game for the Tampa Bay Rays. Joel Sherman of the New York Post asked nine MLB executives if the Rays will trade Price this off-season and all nine said “yes”…

“The public sentiment of the Rays is they will try to find a way to keep their ace. But it is possible his stinker Saturday — seven runs in seven-plus innings in a 7-4 Boston victory that gave the Red Sox a two-games-to-none lead in this Division Series — was his final outing for Tampa Bay…“No,” Price said when asked if he was thinking about that possibility. But, yes, was the vote of all nine executives I reached Saturday when asked if they thought Price would be dealt.”

Sherman mentions Prices salary as a big reason (“He made $10 million this year and could climb to $15 million through arbitration this offseason.”), but more importantly, Sherman points out that trading Price this winter fits the Rays’ pattern.

Sherman does make the mistake of writing that both Garza and Shields were traded two years before free agency (Garza was traded three years prior to free agency), but his point is still correct. That is, the Rays trade good pitchers sooner, rather than later.

Of course, any team that wants Price is going to have to come up with a package better than the one the Rays received for Shields or Garza. Peter Gammons spoke to one assistant GM that thinks the Dodgers have the pieces to get a deal done.

“They can afford him, and having Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Price would be unbelievable,” says one assistant GM. “I could see a deal with (SS) Corey Seager, (OF) Joc Pederson (17-year old LHP) Julio Urias and Chris Withrow. Tampa might do that.”

Sherman also mentions the Rangers, Cubs, and Diamondbacks as possible trade partners.

Mid-series, too soon to get into that. I think Price will be around all of 2014 for some funny reason, but who knows. When you watch the Rays dearly departed scuffle around the major leagues, you realize that its not the end of the world to let any individual go.

For those of you here who have followed my long-standing bewilderwent with Eliot Johnson's continued employment as a major league player, his ALDS performance (.000, critical throwing error) was at least some confirmation that my obsession with EJ wasn't totally unfounded. Bossman turned in a terriffic called looking, dirty look to the umpire pinch hitting performance as well.

Great comments today. The NE media is so biased, as is MLB. Their color commentary of Saturdays game included "zobrist didn't get out of the way" when the BoSox player tackled Zoby and tried to spike him on second base. Don't do that to Gentle Ben or any of the Rays! Very tired of the media always putting the Rays down. Why there hasn't been a brawl in the series is strange. Lots of hostility.

Hopefully, David Price is not going anywhere for 2014..I sure hope he does stay. With Shields and Price gone, what are the Rays left with? Not our usual "world class" pitching..that is for sure! We would be left with 4 non-veteran pitchers for starters. None are moe than 2-3 years out of Durham. Cobb would be the "old man" of the starters. Chris Archer has a great future but is still green. Helly should have been traded last year.Helly is good for about 3-4 innings that are difficult to watch and possibly ulcer producing. Moore's averages and w/l looks good on paper but is totally erratic and wild. Who would fill the empty 5th space?

Loosing Price in 2014 would leave the Rays with unpredicable, non-stellar pitching, no power players that hit on a regular basis and the need to firm up the play of the outfield. If the infield stayed the same as 2013, that area would be the shining spot of the roster. Not a recipie for success in 2014!

Isn't everyone forgetting the $25 mil in extra TV money that all teams are getting starting next year. If all of that went straight into the payroll, which it probably won't, the 2014 payroll would be $83 million which would leave plenty of room to keep Price for about $15 mil.

I don't think there's any way the Rays could win this deal like they won the Garza trade, the jury is still out on Shields. At 28 with an upside as a top 5 pitcher in baseball the Rays would be better off signing him to a 4-5 year deal and trading him in 3 years when he's the same age as Shields when he was dealt.

I don't think anybody is forgetting that. Even without that money, the Rays could afford to keep Price in 2014. The problem is there is no way they can afford him after he hits free agency even with the extra money (remember, everybody gets extra money which means more money for the rich the teams also). And the longer the Rays wait to trade Price, the less they will get in return. So most people think this is the time when you trade him to maximize the quality of the players the Rays will receive in return.

The local TV contract is also up in 2016 which looks top bring the team a minimum of $20 mil and possibly up to $60 mil more a year based on the high ratings the Rays continue to garner. I'd say deal Hellickson for a 1B/Catcher/SS and find a way to keep Price around until you can afford a long term contract.